News and Comments
Public Interest in Retardation.
We confess to astonishment at the public interest which the problem of retardation has excited. We were prepared for the recognition of the importance of the problem on the part of those familiar with certain phases of child development and education. We did not expect the widespread appreciation of the importance of attacking the problem of the educational development of the child in the public schools from the standpoint of retardation. The work of Mr. Ayres of the Russell Sage Foundation has been particularly effective in this direction. At the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Thursday, December 30tb, a joint session was held with the Social Education Club of Boston, at which Mr. Ayres” presented some of his charts. Mr. Ayres has an unusually happy faculty of making charts and statistics interesting. At the meeting of the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association to be held at Indianapolis on March 1st, Mr. Ayres will present his material at an all-day session devoted to the individual differences and retardation of school children. The Growth of Psychological Clinics.
There can be no doubt that the psychological clinic for the examination and treatment of backward children is destined to become an important institution in connection with our universities and public school systems. We have already called attention to the organization of a psychological clinic in connection with the schools of Los Angeles. The Oakland schools have also organized a Department of Health, Development, and Sanitation, under the direction of Dr N. K. Foster. Under a general law of the state of California this department is authorized to perform the function of a psychological clinic. Clark University has organized a Children’s Institute for the scientific investigation of the development of school children. The program of organization comprehends a psychological clinic. The organization of this work at Clark University is inspired and directed by President G. Stanley Hall, who has been for the past twenty-five years easily the foremost contributor to the development of an applied psychology in the service of education.
We learn also that the departments of psychology and education at the University of the State of Washington, Seattle, Wash., have planned a psychological clinic for the benefit of defective children of Seattle and vicinity. The clinic is held on Saturday mornings from 9.30 to 12.30 and opened November 20th. It is under the direct charge of Professor H. C. Stevens, Department of Psychology, and Professor Edward 0. Sisson, Department of Education.
Playground Statistics for 1909. The Tear Book of the Playground Association of America shows that out of the 914 cities and towns in the United States having a population of five thousand and over, 336 municipalities are maintaining supervised playgrounds. The actual number of playgrounds that were being operated in 267 of these cities during 1909 was 1535. About fifty-six per cent of these supervised places for the play of children are located in the area of greatest density of population, in the North Atlantic States, where the need for playgrounds has not only emphasized itself strongly upon the social mind, but has been met to a large extent by the actual establishment of playgrounds. The number of cities in the North Atlantic States maintaining playgrounds is 149, and the number of playgrounds established in 123 of them is 873. Massachusetts particularly has led in the playground movement, as in so many other movements for progress and social betterment. In 55 of the larger cities local playground associations have been established, and many of the smaller towns have organized playground committees that will shortly be converted into permanent organizations. Of great assistance have been the churches, women’s clubs, Young Men’s Christian Associations, Associated Charities, and public-spirited men and women everywhere.
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